ALBERT KOK / WIKIMEDIATiger Shark: young specimens live along the coast near Recife between January and SeptemberALBERT KOK / WIKIMEDIA
Researchers at the Federal Rural University of Pernambuco (UFRPE) analyzed the catches made by the Recife Shark Monitoring Program (PROTUBA) from 2004 to 2011 and identified the characteristics and behavior of the most abundant populations of this type of fish in the coastal waters near the city of Recife (PLOS One, July 10, 2014). The article revealed that the relatively peaceful nurse sharks (Ginglymostoma cirratum) live in the region year-round and the population is apparently increasing. At the same time, the number of specimens of the blacknose shark (Carcharhinus acronotus) appears to have decreased over the years. The aggressive tiger shark (Galeocerdo cuvier), responsible for attacks on bathers on the beaches of Recife, spends time in the coastal waters of the region during its first year of life, especially between January and September. In the last quarter of the year, it moves to deeper ocean waters after reaching lengths of 1.5 to 2 meters. “The larger animals occasionally visit the region, but do not stay very long,” says biologist André Afonso, one of the authors of the article. “In another, parallel study, we found that this species travels distances on the order of thousands of kilometers in Brazilian and international waters.”
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